In a co-ordinated exercise, officials from Women and Child Development Department and the Police Department carried out a simultaneous exercise to round up women and children found begging at traffic signals, business, and commercial areas besides tourist destinations across the city on Monday.
A total of 15 women and 25 children were rounded up in the exercise involving officials from the Mysuru district child protection unit, special juvenile police unit, anti-human trafficking unit, childline and Don Bosco Makkalalaya, an NGO working for the promotion of child rights in Mysuru.
Mysuru district child protection officer Abhi Kumar told The Hindu that personnel from different wings formed four different teams in a planned operation on Monday. “The teams set out in different directions. The women and children were picked up from different parts of the city, including K.R. Circle, Mysuru zoo, near Olympia Talkies, near Prabha talkies, Fountain Circle, Columbia Asia hospital junction etc,” he said.
The children were aged between 2 and 14 and belonged to the women. A few children were also trying to sell pens to the public. The women and children were produced before a special sitting of the Child Welfare Committee of Mysuru district convened on the Special Juvenile Police Unit (SJPU) premises in the women’s police station.
As per the directions of CWC, 15 women and 15 children aged below six were sent to the State Home for Women while six girls and four boys, aged above six, were sent to the Government Girls’ Home and Government Boys’ Home respectively.
Mr. Kumar said a majority of the women and children picked up on Monday were from Yellamma colony while a few were from Ekalavya Nagar and the slum near Sathgalli. As per the CWC’s directions, the women and children will be counselled and a social investigation report will be prepared.
The women and children were living in poor conditions. During counselling, the officials will also assess their economic and social problems. “If children require care and protection, they will be given the same at Bala Mandiras,” he said. The men of the family will also be made to understand the law against beggary.
The women will be kept for a few days at the State Home for Women and provided counselling and rehabilitation, he said.
Officials had carried out a similar exercise about two months ago when five women and 10 children were picked up from different locations in the city. They were kept at the State Home for Women for a few days and sent home after counselling.
